Voters running out of time to return absentee ballots

As of a week ago, more than 350,000 Ohio voters had not yet returned their absentee ballot, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office. There is still time. Otherwise, you may want to familiarize yourself with the term “provisional ballot.”

If you’re one of roughly 1.3 million Ohioans who requested an absentee ballot for this election, but haven’t returned it yet, you still have time.

For your vote to count, your ballot must be postmarked no later than Monday and received at the Stark County Board of Elections office by Nov. 16. Another option is to deliver it in person to the elections board before polls close on Tuesday.

As of a week ago, more than 350,000 Ohio voters had not yet returned their absentee ballot, according to Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office.

“They are really going to want to turn those in,” said Jeff Matthews, director of the Board of Elections.

What if you requested an absentee ballot, but forgot about it, or changed your mind, and now want to vote in person on Tuesday? Well, you can — but it won’t be as simple as waltzing in to your precinct and logging on to a touch screen machine.

Any voter who asked for an absentee ballot but then shows up at the polls will be required to vote on a provisional ballot. The reason is simple: It eliminates the possibility of someone voting twice.

“We don’t want two live ballots in the system,” Matthews explained.

Provisional ballots, though, aren’t counted on Election Day. They won’t be tallied until at least 10 days after the election. The window of time, by law, provides elections officials an opportunity to scrutinize them; to ensure no one is voting twice; to verify the identity of the voter; and to make sure the voter is registered.

And forget the urban legend that these ‘late’ votes get counted only if they will make a difference in the outcome of races. That’s simply not true. Every ballot — provided it’s legally cast — gets counted. That includes absentees, provisionals and those cast on machines at the polls.

You’ll notice initial election results always referred to as unofficial. The official and final counts are certified by each of the state’s 88 county board of elections weeks later. The deadline to do that is Nov. 27.

Four years ago, more than 1.7 million Ohio voters cast absentee ballots, either by mail or in-person at county boards of elections — which accounted for nearly 30 percent of the total votes cast in the election.

This year, for the first time, the Secretary of State mailed absentee application information to all registered voters. That move was expected to further increase the number of absentee voters, as compared to those at the polls.